Disappointed in wi-fi service/losing wired service

[nyloc]

Well, we moved from AKV Jambo Concierge level over to the Bay Lake Towers.

There's a huge difference in WiFi quality at BLT. We were put on the 12th floor and were moved midway our stay.

Both rooms had excellent quality, though slower than I'd like. e.g. I use the Zinio app to read magazines, and it took forever to download new editions.

But at least it didn't keep bombing out like at Jambo. And I was able to use streaming radio with no problem.

Maybe this is indeed a work in progress.

 

[Cheltenham]

I was at the BWV last week and the wifi was not good. It was very slow and I kept losing the connection on both my IPad and IPhone. I ended up connecting over 3G.

 

[DMKEDM]

Sigh a sad sigh.

I cannot go to WDW if I can't work while I'm there (just one of those jobs...the upside is I can do it from anywhere, frequently; the downside is I have to do it from wherever I am, frequently. And since I like getting paid, I do it, including from WDW)...

I can't work w/out access to the internet.

It has to be reliable. I can't chance being unable to connect.

Sigh. This may be the "why I would sell" answer. I'm not rich enough to blow off clients. Not even for WDW.

I'm so sad.

 

[disneynutz]

I suggest that everyone who has problems with Disney's WiFi send emails to:

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

and

dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

Maybe if we keep reporting the problems, Disney will take the steps necessary to get it fixed.

Bill

 

[jekjones1558]

I suggest that everyone who has problems with Disney's WiFi send emails to:

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

and

dvcmembersatisfactionteam@disneyvacationclub.com

Maybe if we keep reporting the problems, Disney will take the steps necessary to get it fixed.

Bill

I received a call from Member Satisfaction but with no answer. I emailed Guest Communications but have not heard back as of yet.

 

[Brian Noble]

I cannot go to WDW if I can't work while I'm there

I am in a similar position from time to time, depending on my current set of clients. You absolutely should get one of these. You can get it without a contract, and turn it on only when you need it, but then you'll be paying list price for the device. I suspect other carriers have similar devices, but I've been on ATT, Sprint, and Verizon over the past year, and Verizon's data coverage has been superior:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/mobile-hotspots-1.shtml

I mostly use mine for travel to avoid crappy hotel wifi. But, I find it surprisingly useful in other situations, as well. For example, last weekend my home connection was intermittently down, and this was a great fallback position.

 

[psac]

At AKV we found it easy to get on, but flaky at best. Though as time went on we decided there may be a method to the madness.

My guess is that there's some type of filtering going on, and if you try to do any kind of streaming at all ... or what looks like streaming to the severs ... it just shuts you down.

So ... no Netflix, Pandora, etc. And to some extent I can understand that being valid.

But if I tried to access YouTube, or even some uploaded private videos - of the trip - it would flake out. Cutting the connection or refreshing the DHCP lease (sorry for being a bit techie) gets things working again for a short period of time.

I couldn't even update the apps on my iPad! But just browsing the web, checking e-mail etc. worked fine.

Maybe it's really just a flaky flaky connection, but I'd have to be convinced.

I agree about the streaming, whenever I tried to update an app on my iPhone, it would kill the connection after a while, like they didn't want any steady transmission (or receipt, whatever) of data.

Also, yeah, the Disboards has been REALLY slow lately.

 

[DMKEDM]

Thanks, Brian--I do have an aircard and I do use it when other forms of internet connection are not available, including power outages at home/office as well as "bad times/places" when I'm traveling. It's ok as a back-up; it's not ideal for planned work sessions, tho. It's slow. It's expensive. I wouldn't plan trips to WDW that involve a significant number of work sessions (which many do) if the only internet access I was going to have was via the aircard...

Disney's wired service has in all but one trip (a short one at BLT) worked just fine...no real difference between my internet access there (which involves writing with lots of "trips" to this or that website to consult source material) and at home or office. Haven't been there since wireless went in. If the wired connection is still available, I'll be fine. If wireless works so long as I'm not "streaming" (which I sometimes but don't frequently do--and streaming via aircard is incredibly expensive!), I'll be ok. Otherwise, it'll be a problem.

I suppose I'm "borrowing trouble" and I know DVC is not set up so that people can work while they're there. But it may "kill" DVC for me. I go frequently (3-5 times/year, for 5-7 nights each trip), and generally spend 4 or so hours (usually early in the morning) working day each trip. That much time needed on the internet each day, with only the aircard for reliable internet access would be a significant expense.

Oh, well. It is what it is. But it does make me sad.

 

[Brian Noble]

it's not ideal for planned work sessions, tho. It's slow. It's expensive.

The 4G MiFis are not slow if you have appropriate coverage---and Orlando is listed as an LTE market, so hopefully it will be okay. So far, it's been shockingly fast. I've got a VWL stay coming up in Feb/Mar, and will report back with some speedtest results from there if I think of it.

As for expensive...depends on what you are charging your clients.

I would switch from the 3G card to the 4G/LTE one whether you plan to use it at WDW or not. Data costs are comparable to what I was paying Virgin Mobile, and it's much MUCH faster.

 

[Mousewerks]

I would switch from the 3G card to the 4G/LTE one whether you plan to use it at WDW or not. Data costs are comparable to what I was paying Virgin Mobile, and it's much MUCH faster.

Just for reference, about how much data do you use when "on vacation"? Just trying to figure out what sort of plan I'd need

 

[DMKEDM]

Surely do appreciate this input...my aircard is pretty old (3-4 years?)...I should go update it...could solve all my problems! Thanks again!!!

 

[Brian Noble]

Just for reference, about how much data do you use when "on vacation"?

I generally don't stream video over it. (If I want to watch video, my phone data plan is still uncapped...) On heavy travel months, I get vaguely close to, but do not go over, the 5GB cap.

 

[alli817]

Just got back from Aulani and found the WiFi to be great! We were on the 4th floor and I found no difference from the broadband we have at home.

I also used it a couple times by the pool, the speed was about the same as a my 3G cell phone provider for uploading pics to Facebook.

 

[Brian Noble]

On heavy travel months, I get vaguely close to, but do not go over, the 5GB cap.

I went back and checked this. The cap I was thinking of was the 2GB/month that Virgin Mobile offered with their pay-as-you-go 3G plan. I will probably shovel more data over the 4G/LTE connection, but don't know yet---I've only had one heavy travel month with it, and most of that travel was at the client site where network access was plentiful, so I wasn't stressing the MiFi that much.

Everyone is different, but unless you are streaming video over it or using it for your primary day-to-day network connection, I'd guess most people won't come close to the limit on the 5G plan.

 

[thebigman65]

Does anyone know if the Wired connection is still working at AKV and AKL?

 

[Mousewerks]

I went back and checked this. The cap I was thinking of was the 2GB/month that Virgin Mobile offered with their pay-as-you-go 3G plan. I will probably shovel more data over the 4G/LTE connection, but don't know yet---I've only had one heavy travel month with it, and most of that travel was at the client site where network access was plentiful, so I wasn't stressing the MiFi that much.

Everyone is different, but unless you are streaming video over it or using it for your primary day-to-day network connection, I'd guess most people won't come close to the limit on the 5G plan.

Thanks. It's hard to tell what the mix of data might be from the wireless carrier's website. I notice that more and more websites are putting up video clips these days instead of writing about the event. That can only put more pressure on the wireless carriers to up their data limits.

 

[Brian Noble]

A few tens-of-seconds clips now and again won't kill you. Watching a netflix movie or spending the evening on YouTube will.

 

[Rob S.]

Just got back from Aulani and found the WiFi to be great! We were on the 4th floor and I found no difference from the broadband we have at home.QUOTE]

I just returned from Aulani and found the WiFi to be awful. I was on the 16th floor. Luckily I brought my travel router and I plugged in to the port on the desk.

 

[starbird]

We are heading to Disneyland for Spring Break. Should I pack my AirPort Express or will wifi (for the wife/kids iPods, i'll use my 3G if needed) be available?

 

[Snurk71]

We are heading to Disneyland for Spring Break. Should I pack my AirPort Express or will wifi (for the wife/kids iPods, i'll use my 3G if needed) be available?

We were pretty spotty during our trip in March (1st floor, kind of in the middle of the building). Couldn't ever get a signal in the bathroom .